I might get back to recapping the NYC adventure....but in the meantime it's simply too daunting and I have other things I'd rather post about.
Today I took the Littleman to Quiet Waters Park which is only about 10 minutes from my house and stunning. It's huge, with playgrounds, dog beaches and winding lonely trails. It also offers a dock from which you can rent boats of various kinds and zoom around the sleepy inlet. Littleman and I pleaded and begged and finally got a paddleboat to ourselves ( we didn't have nearly enough money with us) and so we ventured out into the water.
Now, I have never operated a paddleboat. Nor have I ever taken a child out on the water. I was living in fear and gripping Littleman's arm so tightly I was probably cutting off his circulation for the first 15 minutes. Then i realized that we were the only thing moving, the boat was not about to capsize and we were in lifejackets....so I relaxed a little bit. I did not let go of the man however, simply allowed his arm to receive blood again.
The feeling once i relaxed and looked around us was almost instantly overwhelming. Here we are in silence in the middle of the water with a perfect, untouched coastline all around us and skies full of blossoming clouds over our heads. It was dreamlike. I let the Littleman lean over the side ( with my hand clenched around his jacket as tho it was candy and I a fat kid) and catch at leaves and sticks floating by. We didn't even talk, there was nothing to say. It was, in every way what my body needed; floating around, through rippling murky water, catching up an early fallen leaf and laughing at the seagulls who are flying and divebombing all around us.
We were in heaven for half an hour.
I love it here some days.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Some Recapping Action
So...NYC happened and it was great. here's a summary as best I can remember, day by day.
Thursday- At 7 i roll out of my tangled up bed and proceed to stumble around my room, frantically stuffing clothing, toothpaste and a comb (?) into my backpack. I have a long minute of panic over what shoes to bring, since every single time I have been in NYC I choose shoes wrongly and get horrible blisters as punishment. Then I go wake up the random teenagers that are crashed out in the office and force them to move their vehicle which is parking me in. I hop behind the wheel, plug in the adress of Baltimore Amtrak into my GPS and off I go.
I did not, however, really plan for morning commute traffic and so I arrive at the Amtrak with 5 minutes to spare and am forced to practically abandon my car without a second glance at the exact location in which its parked. Oh well. My train ride was lovely and dreamy, zooming along the chesapeake and its contributing rivers then inland through the modern ruins of Philadelphia and New Jersey.
I arrive in Penn Station and then proceed through the subways to arrive sweaty and limp at Sax's front door. She swings me up into a hug and, after handing me an icy beer, launches into all the gossip I've missed in the last month. Perfect. Caleb arrives an even sweatier mess about 3 hours later and we all lay about panting for a few minutes before it's already time to leave for Coney Island, where our concert is being held.
As our sub pulls into the Coney station we realize with sinking hearts that tickets are still at Sax's house and now we must turn around and ride the sub all over again. And then again. We finally arrived to Hipster-Heaven with 2 minutes to spare and then proceeded to enjoy the best concert ever. My brother has an excellent recap in his LJ, here. Afterwards we stumbled back onto the train and sat smiling and sweaty with hundreds of other youngpeople in exactly the same condition. Except for the kid who puked into his fedora....he was in a worse state.
We were planning on going out to bars but upon returning to Sax's we were much to wrung out and so we got a beer and some greasy diner food and sat up on the roof of her building for a bit. The view was spectacular and the vibe was mellow and pleasant. I turned in earlier than Caleb and Sax, climbing into Sax's beautiful red bed and falling asleep the second my head hit the pillow. Sax climbed in an hour later and as she pulled me close and snuggled her curly head into my neck, I mumbled sleepily to her that she is a great friend and how happy I was.
end point day 1
day 2 will be tomorrow since i am tired and want to nap.
Thursday- At 7 i roll out of my tangled up bed and proceed to stumble around my room, frantically stuffing clothing, toothpaste and a comb (?) into my backpack. I have a long minute of panic over what shoes to bring, since every single time I have been in NYC I choose shoes wrongly and get horrible blisters as punishment. Then I go wake up the random teenagers that are crashed out in the office and force them to move their vehicle which is parking me in. I hop behind the wheel, plug in the adress of Baltimore Amtrak into my GPS and off I go.
I did not, however, really plan for morning commute traffic and so I arrive at the Amtrak with 5 minutes to spare and am forced to practically abandon my car without a second glance at the exact location in which its parked. Oh well. My train ride was lovely and dreamy, zooming along the chesapeake and its contributing rivers then inland through the modern ruins of Philadelphia and New Jersey.
I arrive in Penn Station and then proceed through the subways to arrive sweaty and limp at Sax's front door. She swings me up into a hug and, after handing me an icy beer, launches into all the gossip I've missed in the last month. Perfect. Caleb arrives an even sweatier mess about 3 hours later and we all lay about panting for a few minutes before it's already time to leave for Coney Island, where our concert is being held.
As our sub pulls into the Coney station we realize with sinking hearts that tickets are still at Sax's house and now we must turn around and ride the sub all over again. And then again. We finally arrived to Hipster-Heaven with 2 minutes to spare and then proceeded to enjoy the best concert ever. My brother has an excellent recap in his LJ, here. Afterwards we stumbled back onto the train and sat smiling and sweaty with hundreds of other youngpeople in exactly the same condition. Except for the kid who puked into his fedora....he was in a worse state.
We were planning on going out to bars but upon returning to Sax's we were much to wrung out and so we got a beer and some greasy diner food and sat up on the roof of her building for a bit. The view was spectacular and the vibe was mellow and pleasant. I turned in earlier than Caleb and Sax, climbing into Sax's beautiful red bed and falling asleep the second my head hit the pillow. Sax climbed in an hour later and as she pulled me close and snuggled her curly head into my neck, I mumbled sleepily to her that she is a great friend and how happy I was.
end point day 1
day 2 will be tomorrow since i am tired and want to nap.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Come on down!
I got a new CAR! and not new in the sense that its new to me but actually brand new! It's a toyota corolla and its a 2007. I'm in love. I'm in debt.
Hooray for financing and bosses that suprise you with a bonus downpayment!
Hooray for financing and bosses that suprise you with a bonus downpayment!
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Yesterday..
..because recaping NYC right now is overwhelming. I'll do it, I swear, but it involves long stories for every day and right now I just don't have it in me. Suffice it to say, it was fantastic and probably one of the best trips I've had in quite a while. All went right and those things that didn't go exactly right ( like getting all the way to Coney Island and then realizing we left the tickets back at Lynn's house) still went ok ( the total travel back and then forth plus grabbing tickets and cursing time still had us arriving well in time to catch 2 out of 3 of the opening acts).
Yesterday I started the first of 3 days of continuous work. Meaning I sleep here until wed night. This is ok, I don't really mind, except for a few things. I'm scared someone will break into this massive house to steal the garunteed buckets of fancy things that are in this bohemouth. Also, I'm in the process of turning in the Lexus for a new toyota and the dealer has taken up residence on my shoulder and its becoming increasingly difficult to sort through what he needs me to do while I am not home and at perma-work.
However, we did manage to have much fun running in the sun yesterday and taking a bike ride along an overgrown and utterly charming bike path.
Yesterday I started the first of 3 days of continuous work. Meaning I sleep here until wed night. This is ok, I don't really mind, except for a few things. I'm scared someone will break into this massive house to steal the garunteed buckets of fancy things that are in this bohemouth. Also, I'm in the process of turning in the Lexus for a new toyota and the dealer has taken up residence on my shoulder and its becoming increasingly difficult to sort through what he needs me to do while I am not home and at perma-work.
However, we did manage to have much fun running in the sun yesterday and taking a bike ride along an overgrown and utterly charming bike path.
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Dorking out at HRC
Last night I had the particular good luck to be invited to a rooftop birthday party for an employee at HRC by my long time friend SB. Now, I do not know the birthday boy, nor do I work with or for HRC but I do happen to know SB from years and years of dating people who are friends and so always being at each others parties and houses. We have years of dirt on each other and as we found out, years of stored up gossip about the girlfriends, the girlfriends' flings and of course our own ill-advised behavior from back in the day.
The party itself was held in a ritzy apartment building on a happening corner in D.C.. I parked a few shady blocks away and meandered around until I bumped into SB, adorably dressed in a tie with a corona in hand and a giant grin on her handsome face.
As an aside, SB is a genuine person who has always managed to be the life of any party she is at and somehow also the shoulder to cry on or the girl to talk it over with. She is a tomboy in the older sense; she likes to climb trees and cut her own hair and looks down on shoes as entirely unnecessary. She is charming and goofy at the same time and manages to steal your heart with a lopsided grin and swagger that ends in a sprawl.
The party, as I mentioned was a rooftop affair with a DJ, a bartender and an amazing view of all the D.C. sights. I stood for a minute with my sweating beer in one hand and just stared out at the monuments and historical buildings, this perfect landscape of urban sprawl and senatorial construction and thought, " I cannot believe I am here. I cannot believe this is my life right now". Amy Winehouse howled through the speakers and people laughed and chatted all around me, talking shop or gossiping over office romance and instead of feeling out of place, I felt very very content.
I had a lovely time, met many interesting and unique people and talked until 3 am with SB, catching up on all our foibles in the 3 years its been since we saw each other last.
Oh lovely night.
The party itself was held in a ritzy apartment building on a happening corner in D.C.. I parked a few shady blocks away and meandered around until I bumped into SB, adorably dressed in a tie with a corona in hand and a giant grin on her handsome face.
As an aside, SB is a genuine person who has always managed to be the life of any party she is at and somehow also the shoulder to cry on or the girl to talk it over with. She is a tomboy in the older sense; she likes to climb trees and cut her own hair and looks down on shoes as entirely unnecessary. She is charming and goofy at the same time and manages to steal your heart with a lopsided grin and swagger that ends in a sprawl.
The party, as I mentioned was a rooftop affair with a DJ, a bartender and an amazing view of all the D.C. sights. I stood for a minute with my sweating beer in one hand and just stared out at the monuments and historical buildings, this perfect landscape of urban sprawl and senatorial construction and thought, " I cannot believe I am here. I cannot believe this is my life right now". Amy Winehouse howled through the speakers and people laughed and chatted all around me, talking shop or gossiping over office romance and instead of feeling out of place, I felt very very content.
I had a lovely time, met many interesting and unique people and talked until 3 am with SB, catching up on all our foibles in the 3 years its been since we saw each other last.
Oh lovely night.
Friday, August 3, 2007
The Height of Fashion
as determined by a key fob, that is.
This little beauty now belongs to ME! and it makes me a swell, yes it does.
This little beauty now belongs to ME! and it makes me a swell, yes it does.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Genius? or boredom?
A copy of this that I made today while running a mini-lesson for LittleGal (Monkey), who was reveling in the joy of having me all to herself since LittleMan had art classes at an institute today. It's in ballpoint and crayon.....I know. I'm classy. It's just true.
I love it.
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Hulk...M-A-D....
OK, I'm a tolerant person in many ways; I'm patient with small children and old lady drivers, I don't correct men when they insist they know where they are going or how to fix something, I keep my peace as a general rule. Now, I know everyone has seen me lose it before and of course, I am not saying I don't. I do, however, I do not throw tantrums when I don't get my way. Usually, unless I'm sick or very tired and then only around Caleb or my mother.
That said, I will recount an incident from last evening that is still pissing me off, even after I've slept on it. Which takes a lot.
I come home from work early and in a generous mood, so I park on the street to wait for others to get home and park in our 3 car driveway. Since I am first out I like to be last in at night but usually this is acomplished by parking in the driveway and then when others arrive home we do the old switcharoo. The reason I don't usually park on the street is that I don't have a street parking permit and therefore run the risk of being ticketed after 2 hours.
All of this aside, I don't mind waiting on the street as long as I keep an eye out of the window on the ye old meter maid.
So, Miss Mack is already parked in the driveway and done driving for the day and my Roomi J arrives home around 6. I check with her and she says she's home for the night and her boy G is on his way. I offer to leave my car in the parking spot on the street to save it for him until he arrives. I do this because parking on our street, or really anywhere near it is difficult and one often finds ones car 4 blocks away from ones destination.
G arrives abotu 10 minutes later and I hurtle outside to make sure I grab him before he turns off the car, because as we all know it instantly becaomes a pain in the ass to move if you've already turned the car off. Instead of gratefully accepting the saved spot HE GIVES ME SHIT ABOUT MOVING! He launches into a childlike argument about equal odds for ticketing and how he shouldn't have to move oblivious of two major facts:
1. Why does he think I haven't already parked in the driveway?
2. IT'S MY HOUSE and MY DRIVEWAY
So eventually I gently point out that the driveway is mine and I must park there because I live there. This causes him to fly into a tantrum and start cursing, slamming doors and telling me to hurry up. since he is now horribly put out.
This, in effect, ends the debacle as I park and go inside not to speak to him again since he hurries to safety of my Roomi J's room.
Overall, I'm angry because I don't think it's appropriate to fly into a tantrum and to curse at someone who isn't hurting you or deliberately working against you. I was doing the opposite, actually, I was trying to do him a favor by saving the spot right outside our house for him.
SIGH
Tragically, I think this has no resolution either because it seems to me he is the sort who thinks this is over and if he waits a long enough time I won't be angry anymore. Or perhaps he even thinks I'm not angry at all.
That said, I will recount an incident from last evening that is still pissing me off, even after I've slept on it. Which takes a lot.
I come home from work early and in a generous mood, so I park on the street to wait for others to get home and park in our 3 car driveway. Since I am first out I like to be last in at night but usually this is acomplished by parking in the driveway and then when others arrive home we do the old switcharoo. The reason I don't usually park on the street is that I don't have a street parking permit and therefore run the risk of being ticketed after 2 hours.
All of this aside, I don't mind waiting on the street as long as I keep an eye out of the window on the ye old meter maid.
So, Miss Mack is already parked in the driveway and done driving for the day and my Roomi J arrives home around 6. I check with her and she says she's home for the night and her boy G is on his way. I offer to leave my car in the parking spot on the street to save it for him until he arrives. I do this because parking on our street, or really anywhere near it is difficult and one often finds ones car 4 blocks away from ones destination.
G arrives abotu 10 minutes later and I hurtle outside to make sure I grab him before he turns off the car, because as we all know it instantly becaomes a pain in the ass to move if you've already turned the car off. Instead of gratefully accepting the saved spot HE GIVES ME SHIT ABOUT MOVING! He launches into a childlike argument about equal odds for ticketing and how he shouldn't have to move oblivious of two major facts:
1. Why does he think I haven't already parked in the driveway?
2. IT'S MY HOUSE and MY DRIVEWAY
So eventually I gently point out that the driveway is mine and I must park there because I live there. This causes him to fly into a tantrum and start cursing, slamming doors and telling me to hurry up. since he is now horribly put out.
This, in effect, ends the debacle as I park and go inside not to speak to him again since he hurries to safety of my Roomi J's room.
Overall, I'm angry because I don't think it's appropriate to fly into a tantrum and to curse at someone who isn't hurting you or deliberately working against you. I was doing the opposite, actually, I was trying to do him a favor by saving the spot right outside our house for him.
SIGH
Tragically, I think this has no resolution either because it seems to me he is the sort who thinks this is over and if he waits a long enough time I won't be angry anymore. Or perhaps he even thinks I'm not angry at all.
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